Record Number: 24334

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'[Mrs Ward's average day at Stocks began] at 5.30 a.m, with the reading of Greek, or writing of letters, or much reading, for the reading of many books was still her greatest solace and delight. "For reading, I have been deep in Emile Faguet's "Dix-huitieme siecle", she wrote to Mrs Creighton in August, 1908, "comparing some of the essays in it with Sainte-Beuve, the reactionary with the Liberal; reading Raleigh's Wordsworth, and Homer and Horace as usual. If I could only give three straight months to Greek now I should be able to read most things easily, but I never get time enough - and there are breaks when one forgets what one knew before". Greek literature meant more and more to her as the years went on, and though she could give so little time to it, the half-hour before breakfast which she devoted, with her husband, to Homer, or Euripides, or the "Agamemnon", became gradually more precious to her than any other fraction of the day'.

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

From: 1 Aug 1908

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Aldbury
county: Hertfordshire
specific address: Stocks

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Mary Augusta Ward

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

11 Jun 1851

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

writer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Aeschylus

Title:

Agamemnon

Genre:

Classics, Drama

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

in Greek

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

24334

Source:

Print

Author:

Janet Penrose Trevelyan

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Life of Mrs Humphry Ward

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1923

Vol:

n/a

Page:

248

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Janet Penrose Trevelyan, The Life of Mrs Humphry Ward, (London, 1923), p. 248, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=24334, accessed: 21 December 2024

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Additional Comments:

read with her husband